# Start here: Viewer

Read current quantities, movements, receipts and retained evidence safely.

Source: https://help.smartfact.ai/manuals/storesflow/viewer

Review edition: 25 October 2026

Roles: viewer

Viewers inspect stock and retained records without authority to record stock movements. Use **Stock**, **Demand**, **Transfers**, **Records**, **Expected deliveries** and **Receipt reports** to answer a question from evidence.

## Read the quantity in context

An item's **Current stock**, **Available**, **Inbound on site**, **In transit** and **On order** describe different parts of its lifecycle. Available is the figure used for reordering. It excludes held, expired and committed stock but ignores count freezes; a physical action still checks the freeze before proceeding.

On order is a Purchasing commitment, not material already on the shelf. An unknown current on-order value must stay unknown. Where a last-known figure is displayed, it is historical and excluded from the current suggested need.

Open the item to inspect recorded locations, lots and conditions. Use **Movement history** to see how it changed. A stock-status badge is useful for triage, but does not replace the exact quantities and their units.

## Follow a record

In **Records**, narrow the question by item, movement or reference using the controls provided. Open the transaction, source or original command receipt when linked. Reading a retained receipt repeats no action. A retained source describes recorded work and is separate from today's available stock.

Read all relevant pages of results. A first page or a printed status snapshot is not the complete site ledger. Check the observation time on cached Purchasing information.

## Report a discrepancy

Give a supervisor the item code, bin, lot, record reference, quantity, unit and the physical observation or document that conflicts with the screen. Keep a suspected error distinct from an approved correction. See [history and documents](/manuals/storesflow/history-and-documents) for the retained evidence and document boundaries.